Backfilled the Weekly Mileage

February 22nd (Monday): Traveled in from Mass in the early AM. Swim with Renee and Addy in the PM. 4 miles in the late PM.

February 23rd (Tuesday): 5 miles (36+) in the AM. Bowling in the PM.

February 24th (Wednesday): Snoozed multiple times and never made it out the door for an AM run. 10 miles (70:42) with Donegan at the Saratoga Stryders run. Brewski post-run.

February 25th (Thursday): 3 miles in the AM. Yoga class before work. Plan for the track workout was mile, 3x600, 3x300. Goup kept me company. He was doing some striding 200s. Splits were as followed: 5:04, 1:47, 1:47, 1:45, 50, 49, 48. 3 mile warmup and 2 mile cooldown for 13 miles on the entire day.

February 26th (Friday): 7.5 miles (55:11) in the AM. 3 miles in the PM. Relaxed for the night.

February 27th (Saturday): 8+ miles (with 3 sets of 30/60/90) in 47:06. Solid fartlek. Travel to Leominster. Ran errands with Sarah. Shakeout 5 miles (37:19) before dinner. Bob, Sarah and I started a puzzle. Headlamps were required to see the true colors in the evening hours.

February 28th (Sunday): 15 miles (1:41:04) in SHORTS AND A T-SHIRT. Beautiful afternoon run around the neighborhoods of Leominster (See Strava data at the bottom of post). I ran down a side road (ended being a dead end) and had a close encounter with two dogs. It was to a point where I had to wait for the owner to exit his house to calm the dogs down. One turned out to be friendly. I was able to pet it. The other not so much. Made it out with all my limbs. Back to help put the finishing touches (2nd coat on trims and hardware) on the nursery for my future niece/nephew! Drove home at a decent hour and witnessed a spectacular sunset.

70 miles for the week with a couple workouts and a long run to cap off the week.

Headband season.

 Eggs seasoned with cumin and chili powder. Salsa. Avocado. Hot sauce.

 Favorite LÄRABAR. Chocolate chip cookie dough.

 Mac and cheese. Cajun style chicken sausage sauteed in hot sauce.

 Chicken and broccoli alfredo. Courtesy of Sarah.

 Frozen on Ice outfit.

 Headlamp marking. Wifi symbol?

 Tucker.

 Such a good helper.

#nofilter

Keene & USATF NE Indoor Championships

February 15th (Monday): 9 miles in the PM.

February 16th (Tuesday): 7.5 miles in the AM with some snow. 5.5 miles in the PM.

February 17th (Wednesday): 5 miles in the AM. 3 miles in the PM.

February 18th (Thursday): 3 miles in the AM. Yoga class for an hour at work. Track workout in the PM. Workout plan was 6x400 and 4x200. Full rest. Tough to change into those gears. Yoga left my hamstrings sorta sore. I made it happen. 7x400 because I mentally needed to break 70. and 5x200 because I needed to break 33. Splits were as followed. 72, 73, 71, 73, 70, 70, 69, 34, 33, 33, 33, 34, 32. Froyo with Renee, Sydney and Addy for dinner.

February 19th (Friday): 6+ miles in the AM with Renee. Movie date with Goup. Deadpool. Highly recommend it, but definitely not for kids. Though, there were a bunch of them there for some reason.

February 20th (Saturday): Travel to Keene in the AM. Pit stop in Athens, VT for a 10 miles (71:23) with TPaq and Ferenc. Solid road run. Alumni shindig in the evening. Great to see old faces. Lots of dancing.

February 21st (Sunday): Travel to Boston to run the 3,000m at the USATF New England Indoor Championships. 4 mile warmup (29:27) with Scott Mindel and Renee (fellow Saucony Hurricane teammates). Switched into spikes and ready to roll. Legs felt fresh and with some pop. Splits were solid. Rounded up and made it to add up to my finish time of 8:42.75. 400ish splits with a final 200. 65 (with the short lap), 71, 72, 71, 71, 70, 70, 32. Happy with the time. A few seconds off the PR of 8:40.

68 miles for the week with some solid track work, some double days and a quality performance at the 3K. Keep it rolling.

 Friday morning frost.

 Chocolate milk. Extra frothy.

 Target trip. Items were buy a certain number and get a $5 gift-card. I was handed 4.

 Harvard track. Cool perspective. 

Photo credit: Scott Mason

 Pushing hard. Scott Mindel on my heels.

Photo credit: Scott Mason

Staying smooth.

Photo credit: Scott Mason

 

 

Already untying the shoes. Not even 30 seconds after the race.

Photo credit: Scott Mason

Valentine's Day (Weekend of Singles)

February 1st (Monday): Long day of work. Day off.

February 2nd (Tuesday): Just shy of 7 miles in the AM. 4++ in the PM.
February 3rd (Wednesday): 4 in the AM. 5 in the PM.
February 4th (Thursday): 3 in the AM. Short workout in the PM. 2 mile warmup. 2x800. 4x400. 2:24, 2:23, 69, 69, 67, 68. Total time for 3 miles: 16:45. 2 mile cooldown.
February 5th (Friday): Just shy of 7 miles. Weekend in Leominster helping finish the nursery.
February 6th (Saturday): 5++ miles in the AM.
February 7th (Sunday): Snowshoe race cancelled so I ended up cancelling running that day. Day off.

 Making pizza.

 Official squatty potty from my family for my birthday.

 Sarah's bowl on the left (size of a apple sauce container). Mine of the right.

42 miles week. Two days off. Gotta jump back on the horse.

February 8th (Monday): 5 miles in the AM. 3 miles in the PM.
February 9th (Tuesday): 5 miles (41:46) in the AM. 5.5 miles in the PM.
February 10th (Wednesday): 5 miles in the PM.
February 11th (Thursday): 3 miles in the AM. 7 miles in the PM on the treadmill at work. Two uptempo miles in 5:27 and 5:21.
February 12th (Friday): 8 miles (56:16) with Goup in the PM. Headed over to my buddy Shaun's house for dinner.
February 13th (Saturday): 10+ miles (67:40) in 8 degree weather with a windchill of -17 degrees F. I was overdressed.
February 14th (Sunday): 13 miles (1:44:19) in the snow-covered trails of Schuylerville, NY. 9 degrees F with no wind.

64 miles for the week with an epic weekend of running. With me being single and it being single digits outside, it was only natural to be motivated to battle the elements. Pleased with sliding back into a groove of miles and doubling up on half of the days.

 Windproof Saucony RAZR jacket. Clutch.

 

 Never thought I would use the neck-warmer from Loon Mountain Race. 

Studs for extra traction on Sunday.

 Organic. Non GMO. Valentine's day gift to myself.

 No caption needed.

My Valentine every year.